Episode 4: The Veldt

[00:00:16] Speaker A: The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society podcast welcome to the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense and horror stories from the golden Age of Radio. I'm Eric. I'm Tim. [00:00:35] Speaker B: I'm Joshua. [00:00:36] Speaker A: We love scary old time radio stories, and there's nothing quite like a disembodied voice telling a genuinely disturbing tale. But do these stories stand the test of time, or are we being deceived by nostalgia? Are they suspenseful or forgettable? Bone chilling or butt numbing? That's what we're here to find out. [00:00:55] Speaker B: For tonight's story, I've chosen the Velt from Dimension X. Dimension X premiered April 8, 1950, and was one of the earliest adult oriented science fiction shows on radio. While other Sci-Fi programs of the time, such as 2000 plus, relied on original and somewhat hit or miss scripts, Dimension X adapted newly published stories written by contemporary masters of the genre, including Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, and Kurt Vonnegut. Dimension X also featured the smooth and darkly ironic baritone of Norman Rose, who served as both announcer and narrator. Norman Rose would later supply the voice of Death in Woody Allen's 1975 comedy Love and Death, as well as the voice of Juan Valdez in countless Columbia coffee commercials. [00:01:42] Speaker C: Dimension X ran a little over a year before being canceled. Its last story, nightfall by Isaac Asimov, was broadcast September 20, 1951. In 1955, NBC revived the show with a new name, X Minus one. Many of the dimension excripts were remade for x minus one, including the story we're featuring Tonight, the Velt by Ray Bradbury. The Velt was first published in the September 23, 1950 issue of the Saturday Evening Post. Originally titled the World the Children made, the name was changed to the Velt when the story was included in Bradbury's 1951 anthology, the Illustrated Man. Dimension X has the honor of being the very first adaptation of the belt. In the intervening years, the story has been adapted many times for television, film, stage, and, of course, radio. [00:02:30] Speaker B: For tonight's podcast, I chose the Dimension X adaptation because it retains Bradbury's original ending. Although X minus one reused the Dimension X script for its 1955 broadcast, it added a framing sequence that completely undermines the story's climax, but more on that later. Now it's time to listen. [00:02:48] Speaker A: Forget the petty distractions around you. Forget what you think you know. Forget everything but what you hear. Right now it's late at night and a chill has set in. You're alone and the only light you see is coming from an antique radio. Listen to the sounds coming from the speaker. Listen to the music and listen to the voices. [00:03:13] Speaker D: Adventures in time and space told in future tense. The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with street and Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction, bring you Dimension X. The soundproofed, happy Life home had cost $30,000, installed it clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them. Their life purred on from day to day, measured and controlled by the nucleonic thermostats, the iridium sponge servo brains that made the beds and washed down the bathroom floors and made sure the salt cellars flowed freely without clogging. Twice a day the house paused, rang a quiet bell and turned precisely 90 degrees on its axis in order that the view from the Solaroid living room windows might be varied to avoid unwi. Of course, the pride of the house was the nursery. The agent for the company had been most enthusiastic. [00:04:35] Speaker E: This way. [00:04:36] Speaker F: Right down the hall. [00:04:37] Speaker E: All right. What was that? [00:04:41] Speaker F: Oh, it's all automatic. The nursery turns itself on when you come within 10ft of it. [00:04:46] Speaker E: Soft automaticity. [00:04:48] Speaker F: That's the motto of the company. All right. Now, this is the nursery. [00:04:54] Speaker E: 40Ft by 40ft and 30ft high. [00:04:58] Speaker F: Separate power unit with automatic overload circuit breakers inspected and approved by the Underwriters Laboratory. The nursery is educational, instructive, entertaining and therapeutic. The entire control mechanism is adjusted to the electroencephalographic key of the child. How much does it cost? [00:05:15] Speaker E: 30,000. [00:05:16] Speaker F: Fob Los Angeles. But that's as much as the whole house. Why, no. But we do want the best for our children, don't we? [00:05:23] Speaker E: Oh, yes. We want the best for our children. [00:05:34] Speaker D: And it was the best. The crystalline walls wavered from two to three dimensions. The pseudotextured composition flooring shifted lightly from brick to dirt to waving grass. And the odorophonics rafted the scent of fantasy through the hermetically conditioned and filtered air. The nursery was the very best. But then they wanted the very best for the children. The technicians installed the nursery and the heavy coaxial power cable was run in from the main line. The walls sprang to life and the mental control banks and relays hummed. [00:06:09] Speaker F: All right, Peter and Wendy. This is your nursery. [00:06:12] Speaker E: What's so special about a nursery, dad? [00:06:15] Speaker F: Plenty. You just go in and see. [00:06:17] Speaker E: Do we have to? It's so big. You promise you'll play ball with me outside, pop? [00:06:23] Speaker F: Go on, kids. Try out the nursery. It's better than any old yard. [00:06:27] Speaker E: Go on, India. You'll be surprised. [00:06:33] Speaker F: Go ahead. [00:06:33] Speaker E: Wendy, I'm scared. I'm not. Hey, it's nice in. Here it is. Come on in, Wendy. Boy, look at the pictures on those walls. They're real. Well, almost real. [00:06:48] Speaker F: You can change them any way you like just by thinking about it. [00:06:51] Speaker E: Go on in, dear. Well, all right. Mommy. Hey, Wendy, look what I can do with a picture. That's a white mask of underlay. I just thought about it and there it was. Let me try, Peter. Let me try. Go ahead. Just think. Uh, how about the. I know. I want to see the wizard of Oz. [00:07:26] Speaker F: Well, dear, there we are. [00:07:27] Speaker E: They like it, don't they? [00:07:29] Speaker F: Well, why shouldn't they? All they have to do is think. And they've got whatever they want in three dimensions. Color, sound and smell. Think what it would have been like to have a nursery like that when. [00:07:38] Speaker D: You were a kid. [00:07:40] Speaker E: It's nice that we can give them all the advantages. [00:07:42] Speaker F: Why, sure. What else are we working for? [00:07:44] Speaker E: Right. [00:07:45] Speaker F: Well, what do you want to do this evening? [00:07:47] Speaker E: Well, the Peterson's act is over for bridge, but. [00:07:50] Speaker F: Oh, we don't have to worry about the kids. They'll be all right in the nursery. Come on, Lydia. We deserve a night out. [00:08:08] Speaker D: And in the nursery, the walls were a kaleidoscope of time and space and imagination. The green forest of Sherwood and quiet forms of Robin and his merry men gave way to the role of the high seas and the smell of salt in the air as Sir Henry Morgan sailed into the harbor at Jamaica. [00:08:24] Speaker E: It's my turn now, Peter. You've got to be fair. It's my turn. [00:08:30] Speaker D: Dorothy and the wizard of Oz followed the yellow brick road round the nursery walls. Then Hansel and Gretel discovered the gingerbread house about 3ft from the door. And from a high tower that stretched into the clouds. The little lame prince sailed out over his kingdom. And behind the crystalline quartz walls, the vacuum tubes and grids and banks of mental image tape spun quietly and efficiently, erasing the line between illusion and reality. Of course, the electric bill from consolidated utilities was tremendous, but it was worth it. The house went on. The stove hummed happily in the kitchen, making breakfast, dinner and supper for four, turning the eggs over lightly and producing popovers electronically calculated by capacity to a 30 volts current and specific gravity. The automatic laundry did the shirts with a medium starch in the collars. Except the button down oxfords, which had no starch at all. The happy life home breathed contentedly as life proceeded with soft automaticity as guaranteed in the brochure and bill of George. [00:09:37] Speaker E: George, I wish you'd look at the know. [00:09:41] Speaker F: What's wrong with us? [00:09:42] Speaker E: Well, I don't know. [00:09:44] Speaker F: Well, that might. [00:09:45] Speaker E: I just want you to look at it, that's all. Or call a psychologist to look at it. [00:09:51] Speaker F: What would a psychologist want for the nursery? [00:09:53] Speaker E: Oh, now, George, you know very well what he'd want. [00:09:55] Speaker F: I was in the nursery last week. It's perfectly alright. [00:09:58] Speaker E: Well, it's different now. [00:10:00] Speaker F: What do you mean, different? [00:10:02] Speaker E: I just want you to come and see. [00:10:04] Speaker F: Are the kids there? [00:10:05] Speaker E: No, Madge Allen took them to a show along with her kids. That's why I want you to look in now before they get back. [00:10:10] Speaker F: All right. What you expect me to do? I don't know. I'm no mechanic. [00:10:15] Speaker E: This isn't a question of a leaky faucet, George. [00:10:17] Speaker F: All right, dear, I'm coming. [00:10:26] Speaker D: The nursery light flicked on as they came down the hall. The relays clicked and the tubes warmed and chemical odor banks and pipes bubbled into life as they paused before the closed door. [00:10:38] Speaker E: Go ahead, George, open it. [00:10:43] Speaker D: On all sides in three dimensions stretched the hot, tired landscape of an african velt, reproduced to the last stick and pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above them became a sky with a hot yellow sun. A wind blew in from the baked Veltland. The hot straw smell of lion grass, the cool green smell of the hidden waterhole, the great rusty smell of animals. The smell of dust like red paprika on the hot air. And now the sounds. The howl of the jackal in the distance. The thump of distant antelope feet on grassy sod. And the papery rustling of the great vultures that wheeled encircled under the yellow burning sun. [00:11:35] Speaker F: Oh, let's get out of this sun. It's a little too real. [00:11:39] Speaker E: Oh no, George, you promised you'd look around. [00:11:41] Speaker F: Well, I don't see him. [00:11:42] Speaker E: Now wait a minute. Look. There are the vultures. [00:11:46] Speaker F: Filthy creatures. [00:11:48] Speaker E: And there are the lions. Far over that way. [00:11:52] Speaker F: Yes, I've seen them. [00:11:53] Speaker E: They're on their way to the waterhole. They've just eaten. Eaten? Yes. I can't see. What? [00:12:00] Speaker F: Sun? Too strong. [00:12:02] Speaker E: Well, shade your eyes. [00:12:03] Speaker F: It some animal, a zebra or babies are out maybe. [00:12:09] Speaker E: Can you see it? Are you sure? [00:12:11] Speaker F: It's a little too late to be sure. Nothing over there but clean balls. Vultures dropping for what's left. [00:12:19] Speaker E: George, did you hear that scream? [00:12:21] Speaker F: What scream? [00:12:22] Speaker E: Just now. [00:12:23] Speaker F: Sorry, hon. No. [00:12:25] Speaker E: Here come the lions. George, they're frightening. [00:12:28] Speaker F: Take it easy, Lydia. They're just illusions. [00:12:30] Speaker E: It. [00:12:34] Speaker D: Was a miracle of mechanical efficiency. The lions prowling toward them over the tawny Beltland. A miracle of inventive genius. Every house should have one. The lions were 15ft away. So real, so startlingly real. You could feel the prickling fur on your hand. Your mouth was stuffed with the dusty upholstery smell of their heated pelts. The yellow of them was in your eyes like the yellow of an exquisite tapestry. The yellows of lions and summer grass. The sound of the matted lion lungs exhaling on the silent moon tide. And the smell of meat from the panting, dripping mouths. [00:13:15] Speaker E: George, I'm afraid. They're so real. [00:13:17] Speaker F: They're only an illusion, Lydia, that's all. Watch out. Oh. Quick. Outside. [00:13:27] Speaker E: Oh, George. [00:13:29] Speaker F: Lydia. My poor, sweet Lydia. [00:13:32] Speaker E: George, they almost got. [00:13:34] Speaker F: No, take it easy. Calm down. [00:13:39] Speaker E: I could feel their. [00:13:40] Speaker F: No, get. Get a hold of yourself. They aren't real walls. That's all it is. Crystalloid walls. [00:13:47] Speaker E: But they look so real. [00:13:48] Speaker F: Yes. Yes, darling, of course they do. But it's all dimensional. Color, reactionary process and metal tape film behind glass screens. It's all odorophonics and sonics. Now, here, take my handkerchief. [00:14:01] Speaker E: I'm afraid, George, did you see? Did you feel. It's too real. [00:14:06] Speaker F: No. [00:14:06] Speaker E: Lydia, we've got to tell Wendy and Peter not to read anymore. On. [00:14:09] Speaker F: Of course. Of course, dear. [00:14:11] Speaker E: Do you promise? [00:14:11] Speaker F: Sure. [00:14:13] Speaker E: And lock the nursery for a few days. [00:14:15] Speaker F: Oh, now, wait a minute, dear. Let's keep our sense of proportion. [00:14:19] Speaker E: George, I want you to lock that place up. [00:14:20] Speaker F: Honey, you know how difficult Peter is about that. I punished him last week by locking the nursery for an afternoon. He threw a tantrum. And Wendy, too. Honey, they live for the nursery. [00:14:29] Speaker E: I tell you, it's got to be locked. That's all there is to it. [00:14:32] Speaker F: Lydia, you need a rest. [00:14:36] Speaker E: I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I don't have enough to do. I have too much time to think. All I do is set the menu selector dials at the beginning of the week. [00:14:47] Speaker F: But, honey, that's the whole idea. The house is automatic. [00:14:50] Speaker E: I know, but couldn't we turn it off for a couple of weeks? Just a couple of weeks and take a vacation? [00:14:57] Speaker F: You mean that you want to fry eggs for me? [00:15:00] Speaker E: Yes, I do. And darn socks too. I feel like I don't belong here. The house is wife and mother and maid. How can I compete with the african belt? And you, George, you don't know what to do with yourself in the house when you're home. You're drinking too much. [00:15:18] Speaker F: Am I? [00:15:19] Speaker E: You feel useless too. [00:15:22] Speaker F: Yes, I suppose I do. [00:15:25] Speaker E: George, those lions can't get out of there, can they? [00:15:29] Speaker F: Oh, of course not, dear. Now, don't think about it anymore. [00:15:45] Speaker D: They ate alone. He sat idly watching the dining room table produce warm dishes of food from its mechanical interior. [00:15:53] Speaker F: You forgot to catch him. That's Bennett. [00:16:01] Speaker D: It wouldn't hurt to lock the children out of the nursery. For a while. It was clear that they'd been spending too much time in Africa. Oh, that sun. He could still feel it on his neck, like a hot paw and a lion's. And a smell of blood. Remarkable how the nursery caught the telepathic emanations of the children's minds and created a life to fulfill their desires. The children fought zebras. And there were zebras. Sun, sun, death and death. They were so young. But long before you knew what death was, you were wishing it on someone else. But this, the long, hot african belt. The awful death in the jaws of a lion. And repeated again and again and again. The children came home dutifully at 830. [00:16:56] Speaker E: Hi, mom. Hi, Pop. Hi, Peter. You want something to eat, wendy? No, thanks. Well, we're just having dessert. We're full of strawberry ice cream and hop to. We'll just sit and watch. [00:17:06] Speaker F: Sure. Peter, tell us about the nursery. [00:17:12] Speaker E: Nursery? [00:17:13] Speaker F: Yeah. It's all about Africa and everything. [00:17:16] Speaker E: I don't understand. [00:17:18] Speaker F: Your mother and I were just traveling through Africa with rod and reel. [00:17:22] Speaker E: There's no Africa in the nursery. [00:17:24] Speaker F: Oh, come now, Peter. We know better. [00:17:27] Speaker E: I don't remember any Africa. Do you? Well, run and see. Sure. I'll be right back. [00:17:37] Speaker F: Wendy, come back here. [00:17:38] Speaker E: Wendy, she'll be right back. [00:17:41] Speaker F: She doesn't have to. I've seen it. Now, come on. [00:17:43] Speaker E: Sure, Pop. Wendy will tell us, though. Could they be lying? [00:17:48] Speaker F: We'll see in just a moment. Peter, open the door. [00:17:54] Speaker E: See, Daddy? It's not Africa. It's Florida. There go the deer. See? It isn't Africa. [00:18:05] Speaker F: Yes, I see. It isn't. Go to bed. [00:18:10] Speaker E: It isn't 09:00 you heard me. [00:18:13] Speaker D: Go to bed. [00:18:15] Speaker E: Okay. Night, mom. Night. Good night. Good night, dears. I'll be right in. [00:18:20] Speaker F: Lydia. Wait a minute. Here. Look at this. [00:18:24] Speaker E: What is it? [00:18:26] Speaker F: This is the corner where the lions were, isn't it? [00:18:28] Speaker E: What's that you picked up? [00:18:30] Speaker F: It's an old wallet of mine. There's a smell of hot grass on it. The smell of a lion. It's wet with saliva, and it's been chewed. [00:18:43] Speaker E: George, those smears are blood. [00:18:47] Speaker F: Come on out. [00:18:52] Speaker E: Now. Let's go to bedroom. [00:19:08] Speaker D: So they went to bed. But in the middle of the night, Lydia was still awake. And she knew her husband was George. [00:19:19] Speaker E: Hmm. How did your wallet. Get in the nursery. [00:19:23] Speaker F: I don't know. Wendy must have changed the walls from the african velvet honey. I'm going to keep it locked. Maybe it isn't good for the children. [00:19:33] Speaker E: It's supposed to help them work off their neurosis in a harmless way. [00:19:36] Speaker F: I'm starting to wonder. [00:19:39] Speaker E: We've given the children everything they wanted. [00:19:41] Speaker F: My father used to say children are like carpets. They should be stepped on occasionally. We've never lifted a hand. [00:19:48] Speaker E: They're spoiled and we're spoiled. [00:19:52] Speaker F: I think I'll have Dr. McClain come tomorrow morning and have a look at Africa. [00:19:55] Speaker E: Yes, only it isn't Africa now. It's Florida and the yearling. [00:19:59] Speaker F: I have a feeling it'll be Africa again before then. [00:20:02] Speaker E: George, Wendy and Peter aren't in their room. Those screech. They sounded familiar. [00:20:13] Speaker F: Did they? [00:20:14] Speaker E: Yes, awfully. Oh, George. [00:20:30] Speaker D: Although their automatic sum, no beds tried very hard. The two adults couldn't be rocked to sleep for another hour. A smell of cats was in the night air and in the morning the stove cooked french toast and the dining room table poured the syrup and melted butter. [00:20:50] Speaker F: Yes. [00:20:51] Speaker E: You weren't going to lock up the nursery for good, are you? [00:20:55] Speaker F: That all depends. [00:20:57] Speaker E: On what? [00:20:58] Speaker F: On you and your sister. [00:20:59] Speaker E: We feel that you should have some variety, dear. [00:21:01] Speaker F: If you intersperse this Africa with a little Sweden or china. [00:21:05] Speaker E: I thought we were free to play the way we like. [00:21:07] Speaker F: Well, you are, within reasonable bounds. [00:21:10] Speaker E: What's wrong with Daddy? [00:21:12] Speaker F: Oh, so now you admit you've been thinking of, huh? [00:21:17] Speaker E: I wouldn't want the nursery locked up ever. [00:21:21] Speaker F: Well, as a matter of fact, we're thinking of turning the whole house off for about a month. Sort of camping out. [00:21:26] Speaker E: You mean I'd have to tie my own shoes instead of having my shoe tire do it? And brush my own teeth and comb my own hair and give myself a bath. Well, Wendy, it would be fun for a change, don't you think, dear? No, it'd be awful. I didn't like it when you took out the picture painter last month. [00:21:41] Speaker F: Well, that's because I wanted you to learn to paint by yourselves. [00:21:44] Speaker E: I don't want to do anything but look and listen and smell. What else is there to do? [00:21:50] Speaker F: Oh, all right, all right. Go play in Africa. [00:21:55] Speaker E: Are you going to shut off the house? [00:21:58] Speaker F: We're considering it. [00:21:59] Speaker E: I don't think you better consider it anymore, Pop. [00:22:03] Speaker F: I won't have any threats from. [00:22:24] Speaker D: After breakfast. Dr. David McLean was announced by the audio knocker and the dining room table, recognizing him as an old friend, poured an extra cup of coffee, light with four lumps. [00:22:40] Speaker F: I saw the nursery last year, George. It looked alright to me. You didn't notice anything unusual? [00:22:47] Speaker D: No. The pattern showed the usual violence. [00:22:50] Speaker F: A tendency towards slight paranoia. All children feel persecuted by their parents. Perfectly normal. I locked the nursery and they broke into it last night. I let them stay so they could form the patterns for you to see. Here it is. Well, suppose we take a look at it right now. [00:23:17] Speaker D: They entered without knocking and sent the children out. The screams had faded and the lions were feeding quietly under the trees. [00:23:27] Speaker F: I wish I could see what they're eating. [00:23:30] Speaker D: You suppose? [00:23:31] Speaker F: Some high powered bananas. How long has this been going on? Little over a month. It certainly doesn't feel good. I don't want feelings. I want fact. George. George's psychologist never saw a fact in his life. He knows about feelings and this doesn't feel good. My advice to you is to have the whole room torn down and your children brought to me every day for the next year for treatment. Is it that bad? I'm afraid so. You know, that's why the nursery was developed originally. To let us examine the patterns left on the wall by a child's mind. But what is it? What's wrong with Peter and Wendy? Well, it's hard to say. I haven't punished them more than average, though. I took away a few gadgets last week. I locked the nursery to show I meant business. George, you've let this room replace you and your wife and your children's affections. This room is their real father and mother. And now you come along and want to shut it. You can feel the hatred coming out of that sky. George, turn everything off. The nursery, the automatic kitchen, the whole confounded automatic house. Start now. But won't the shot be too much for the children? I don't want them going any deeper. Let's get out of here. I never liked these rooms. Get me nervous. Those lions look real, don't they? I don't suppose there's any way that. What? That they could become real? Certainly not. Some flaw in the machinery can't. No, I don't imagine the room would like being turned on. Nothing ever likes to die. Even a room. I wonder if it hates me for turning it on. Paranoia is thick today. Hello. Is this your scarf? It's stained brown. Say, that's blood. That's Lydia's. Come on. The main fuse box is out here. Go ahead. Pull the switch. Yeah, it's off. [00:25:59] Speaker D: The two children were in hysterics. They screamed and kicked and threw things. They yelled and sobbed and swore and jumped on the furniture, weeping. [00:26:07] Speaker F: It's off and it stays off. The whole house dies. As of now, the more I see of the mess we put ourselves in, the more it sickens me. We've been contemplating our electrical mechanical navels for too long. [00:26:19] Speaker D: We need air. [00:26:20] Speaker F: Fresh, unfiltered, unconditioned air. [00:26:24] Speaker D: He marched around the house cutting switches and pulling fuses. The stove was disconnected with a roast lamb in the oven and a flatjack still in the air. The heaters, the shoe shiners, the shoelacers, the body scrubbers and swabbers and massagers. He pulled the plugs and shorted out the controls. One after the other. The house became full of electronic corpses. It was a mechanical cemetery, so silent, none of the humming, hidden energy of the machines waiting to function at the tap of a button and by the still dining room table, its radionic insides dead and currentless. Peter wailed at the house, don't let them do it. [00:27:13] Speaker E: Don't let palm kill everything. I hate you, Bob. I hate Peter. Please don't get you anywhere. I wish you were dead. [00:27:20] Speaker F: We were for a long while. Now we're going to start really living. [00:27:29] Speaker E: Just one more, George. George, it can't hurt. [00:27:33] Speaker F: All right. Only shut up 1 minute and that's the end forever. [00:27:41] Speaker E: Gee, thanks, Pop. Thanks. [00:27:44] Speaker F: Then we're going on a vacation. Dr. McClain is coming in a half hour to help us out. Lydia, turn on the nursery. [00:27:51] Speaker E: Now, remember, kids, it'll be just for 1 minute. Oh, boy. Come on, Wendy. Come on. Thanks, daddy. Thanks a lot. [00:27:58] Speaker F: Just 1 minute. Remember? Where'd I put those suitcases? [00:28:03] Speaker E: Lydia, don't shout, George. I'm right here. [00:28:05] Speaker F: Oh, did you leave them alone in the news? [00:28:09] Speaker E: Well, I've got to get ready, George. Oh, that awful Africa. What can they see in it? [00:28:14] Speaker F: Well, in an hour, we'll be on our way to Iowa. What prompted us to buy a nightmare like that? [00:28:20] Speaker E: Pride, I guess. We had the money and we were foolish. [00:28:23] Speaker F: I guess we'd better get them out of there before they get involved with those beasts again. Come on, quick. [00:28:34] Speaker E: Wendy. Wendy. Peter, what's the matter? Hurry up. [00:28:38] Speaker F: Open the nursery, Wendy. Peter. [00:28:43] Speaker E: Are they out anywhere? Wendy. Peter. [00:28:47] Speaker F: Peter, the door. Open the door. They've locked it from the outside. Peter. Peter, open up. [00:28:59] Speaker E: Peter, don't let them. Don't let them turn off the nursery. [00:29:04] Speaker F: Now, don't get ridiculous, children. It's time to go. [00:29:06] Speaker E: Wendy. Wendy. Open the door, dear. [00:29:08] Speaker F: Let us out. Peter, open the door. Time to go. Open the door. [00:29:15] Speaker E: George. George, am I on Peter, do you hear me? [00:29:19] Speaker F: Open this door. [00:29:20] Speaker E: They're all around us. George, son, do you hear me? George? [00:29:45] Speaker D: When Dr. David McLean came a half hour later, he found the two children in the nursery, sitting in the center of the open glade, eating a picnic lunch. Beyond them was the waterhole in the yellow Veltland above was the hot sun. Dr. McLean saw at a distance the lions fighting and clawing and then settling down to feed in silence under the shady trees. [00:30:11] Speaker F: Hi, kids. Where are your mom and dad? [00:30:15] Speaker E: They'll be here directly. [00:30:17] Speaker F: Good. We've got to get going. [00:30:21] Speaker D: He squinted at the lions with his hands up to his eyes. Now they were done feeding. They moved to the waterhole to drink. A shadow flickered as the vultures dropped down from the blazing sky to finish what the lions had left. [00:30:37] Speaker E: Dr. McLean? Is it Dr. McLean? [00:30:41] Speaker F: What? [00:30:43] Speaker E: Half a cup of tea? [00:31:00] Speaker F: You've just heard another adventure into the. [00:31:01] Speaker D: Unknown world of the future, the world of dimension. How soon we actually build a spaceship to conquer the stars depends upon many factors, not the least of which is a man. The overwhelming desire to create such a ship and the power to have it done. Next week we tell the story of such a man as Dimension X brings you Nelson Bond's the vital factor. [00:31:34] Speaker F: Dimension X is presented, transcribed each week by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with street and Smith, publishers of the. [00:31:42] Speaker D: Magazine Astounding Science Fiction. [00:31:44] Speaker F: Today, Dimension X has presented the Velc, written for radio by Ernest Connoy from Ray Bradbury's the Illustrated man. Included in the cast were Leslie woods and Bill Quinn as the parents, Joan. [00:31:54] Speaker D: Lazer and David Anderson as the children. [00:31:56] Speaker F: Your host was Norman Rose. [00:31:58] Speaker D: Music by Albert Berman. [00:32:00] Speaker F: Dimension X is produced by William Welch and directed by Fred Way. [00:32:04] Speaker A: That was the velt on Dimension X here on mysterious old Radio Listening Society Society podcast. Once again, I'm Eric. [00:32:12] Speaker F: I'm Tim. [00:32:12] Speaker B: I'm Joshua. [00:32:13] Speaker A: And let's bring this to the jury as we try to figure out if we think that stood the test of time as far as being suspenseful or still scary by today's standards. Joshua, let's turn it over to you, since this was your choice, before we get into whether we thought it was or not. Why did you choose this one? [00:32:36] Speaker B: Well, I'm a huge fan of both Dimension X and x minus one. It's essentially the same program with a gap of years in between, as everybody should be. [00:32:44] Speaker A: Yeah, they're great. [00:32:46] Speaker B: They're fantastic adaptations. They really utilize the best qualities of old radio, where you have all these special effects and all this stuff you can imagine in your mind. So that's my go to if I'm just bored and want to listen to an old radio show often. And Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite authors as well. [00:33:05] Speaker A: You're not alone on that. It turns out he's kind of popular. [00:33:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess. Guys, I want to tell you about this new author, Ray Bradbury. You're crazy. [00:33:13] Speaker A: I like Dimension X more than x minus one for one reason. The same show, the opening, that shrill at x minus one with a. I can't do that noise. But the countdown in the is ear piercingly. I have to keep my headphones off until the opening's done. It hurts my ear. [00:33:32] Speaker B: I love the opening. [00:33:33] Speaker A: Makes my. [00:33:33] Speaker B: Well, I like it, too. We've got Norman Rose in Dimension X, which I do love. His sort of. He sounds like, as he's narrating, he sounds like he's smiling half the time. There's something about his voice where he's just like, you idiots. [00:33:46] Speaker A: When did you first hear this one? Do you remember? [00:33:48] Speaker B: Probably when I was a teenager or maybe in college. [00:33:53] Speaker A: So sometime during the live broadcast. [00:33:56] Speaker B: Yes, way back in. [00:33:59] Speaker A: The reaction when you were younger or how this made you feel as opposed. What I'm asking is if you remember it back then, and then when you listen to it again for this podcast, what were the differences? [00:34:12] Speaker B: The differences mainly are that I have children now. So children turning on you and killing you is a little closer to home, right, in these days. So, yeah, I thought it was scary when I first heard it, and now it touches on parenting issues. It touches on. Well, I guess that's one of the things I like about it, is that it's really rich thematically. And not all old radio shows are. They're merely like a plot driven suspense engine. But here you have all that. But you also have a lot of themes. [00:34:49] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. There's a lot to delve into here. [00:34:53] Speaker B: The velt itself, I just think, is an amazing choice to make. The scary place the kids go, because instead of it being a realm of monsters or of traditional horror, you're going someplace that's actually real, the Velt. And it seems scary and distant, but then it becomes unreal once it's transported into this domestic situation. So you get the best of both worlds because it's something tangible. Lions. They're real and they don't kill you. But it has the Sci-Fi surreal element because it's right in your living room, essentially. [00:35:27] Speaker A: In the nursery. [00:35:28] Speaker B: Yeah, in the nursery full of lions. And it has that great thematic of children kind of reverting to this vengeful state, this sort of animal state, but it's advanced technology that reverts them to a sort of primitive predator prey relationship with their parents. So that's really interesting, which is why. [00:35:49] Speaker A: I think they chose the belt. [00:35:51] Speaker C: Yeah, a little bit Lord of the flies kind of, yeah. [00:35:56] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. Does this predate lord of the flies? When is? I think so. [00:36:00] Speaker A: Great question. [00:36:02] Speaker B: Let's get our fact checker on that. [00:36:04] Speaker A: Bring that up in the middle of the podcast. Damn, it wasn't Lord of the. I'm going to make a huge mistake. I thought Lord of the Flies was 1965 ish. We'll find out. I'm going to look it up while Tim talks. Tim, what did you think of this episode in general? [00:36:21] Speaker C: The themes that we were talking about are what really jumped out at me, that it has a sort of lecturing tone about technology and relying too much on technology, and yet it presents this velt scenario where that's a place where humans really benefited from having a little technology. [00:36:39] Speaker B: It's a little complex, a nuanced statement. [00:36:42] Speaker C: Which I think is awesome. [00:36:44] Speaker A: The answer is 1954 for Lord of the flies. [00:36:48] Speaker B: So this does predate that. [00:36:49] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:36:50] Speaker A: Well, and Tim brings up that this is a very anti technology piece, right? I mean, you both just looked at me just now, and technology is bad and robots are going to kill us. And that's Ray Bradbury, right? [00:37:05] Speaker B: Well, yeah, he's definitely in favor of humans over machines, but I think there's some nuance, as Tim said to this. [00:37:14] Speaker C: There is the line that was where the child is complaining about having to tie her own shoes. That struck me as like, did sarcastic dad write this script? [00:37:26] Speaker A: Well, what am I going to do? I have to tie my own shoes? [00:37:29] Speaker B: However, here's where we find out that Tim doesn't have children. Because if you have children, that is not outrageous. No, I mean, I listened to this for the podcast and I was like, wow, that sounds kind of familiar. You're grappling with children and technology issues. And then I'm in the car with my daughter who won't read a physical book. It all has to be an audiobook or on her phone. And I'm saying, you know, I think we're going to have a summer where it's all real books. And she freaked out like these kids did. And she's like, why? It's the same as on the page. And then I couldn't really tell her why. It's like, no, it's not the same. Have you ever smelled your phone and then smelled a book, very different. [00:38:10] Speaker A: Like the narrator said when they took it away the final time, close, and they screamed and they yelled and they swore that was the kid. And I was like, yeah. And I reminded, said, if you don't think this is real, then you have never taken your smartphone from your kid, from your 13 year old. [00:38:29] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:38:29] Speaker A: Just try taking that away and watch what happens. It's very real. But again, I want to bring in this is this piece anti technology, anti robot. Beware of technology. It seems to me that's. [00:38:41] Speaker B: I think it is beware of technology that replaces essentially human things. Because the final message from the shrink, well, his first message is, you have to take your kids to me every day for a year. It's like kaching. [00:38:57] Speaker A: Right? That went by me. [00:39:00] Speaker B: But before that, he was like, you let this house replace you as parents. So I don't think it's anti technology. It's just using technology to replace essentially human things. [00:39:12] Speaker C: They were able to make a list of things that the house does for them that they miss, including darning socks, which I don't think would be on my list. [00:39:22] Speaker A: No one's darned a sock for 50 years. That's the weird. You buy new socks. Here's something I want to bring up. I think all three of us have had this conversation outside of this podcast at least once where I've told you how much I hate the holodeck on Star Trek TNT, because it is the biggest crutch I've ever seen. Here's the deal. If we create a world where anything can happen, then we don't have to think about writing. We can just write anything. And then they end know with Mark Twain. It makes me crazy. I hate it. But here's the other thing I hate about the holodeck. I know right now, did we just lose half of our listeners? [00:40:09] Speaker B: Because I don't. [00:40:16] Speaker A: Mark Twain. No, that right. Mark Twain wasn't on the holodeck. [00:40:19] Speaker C: There was a time travel story with Moriarty. [00:40:23] Speaker A: Moriarty, yes. Same thing. My point being. [00:40:28] Speaker B: Geek. [00:40:29] Speaker A: My point being this. It's not so much about the writers basically cheating. It's about the fact that no one takes into account human nature. And what I love about this piece is that it addresses this. The velt, the nursery is a holodeck. [00:40:45] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:40:46] Speaker A: And it takes into account what I always know to be true. If we ever invent something like this, and that is human nature will take over and nobody is going to leave this thing. The world's going to come to an end. You think porn is bad? You give us a room where anything can happen, the world's going to end. It's going to be terrible. And I love this piece for that reason, this broadcast, because it addresses that. That everything falls apart. If you have everything that your heart desires, if something ties your shoes for you, we're done as a society. And so that was my point. I hate the holodeck. [00:41:24] Speaker B: Wouldn't it be cool to see an episode where lions ate data and Picard, though? [00:41:27] Speaker A: Oh, my God, that would be awesome. Not Picard. [00:41:30] Speaker B: Okay. [00:41:31] Speaker F: Data. [00:41:31] Speaker A: That's the only one I can take in that whole show. [00:41:34] Speaker C: There was a point when I was listening to this, when the psychiatrist was brought in after that, when they were questioning the kids, where it seemed questionable if the kids had actually made this Velt scenario where it was vaguely like the parents walked in and responded to them and created it. [00:41:53] Speaker B: Yeah. There's a little ambiguity in that. There's a suggestion that the house is protecting itself from being turned off. [00:42:00] Speaker F: Yes. [00:42:01] Speaker B: But I think it's very clear that the children started this scenario and that they've been fantasizing about their parents being eaten, because there's all those scenes like the lions are feasting on something. We can't make it out way in the distance. And one of the eeriest things in this entire episode for me is when they hear the screams and they seem vaguely familiar. They can't own voice, they can't recognize their own screams. And that kind of sends a little chill through me. [00:42:25] Speaker A: And he finds his wallet. [00:42:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:27] Speaker A: I never thought of it until you just brought it up that the house was protecting itself. I just thought it was pretty cut and dry. The kids fantasized about killing their parents. [00:42:39] Speaker B: This psychologist has the line, nothing ever likes to die, even a room. And so they have this sort of ominous foreshadowing. And also has the other great line of this entire story is long before you knew what death was, you were wishing it on someone else. [00:42:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [00:42:57] Speaker B: Talking about children, that's a really frightening thing. Yeah. [00:43:00] Speaker A: My daughter says that all the time I'm going to kill myself. [00:43:07] Speaker C: That's an alarming thing. [00:43:08] Speaker F: It is. [00:43:09] Speaker A: That's a flag. But I teach junior high kids and they do it all the time, and they talk about death so flippantly, they don't understand. [00:43:14] Speaker B: You're right. Yeah. I die if that happens. [00:43:18] Speaker F: Exactly. [00:43:18] Speaker A: Words like that. [00:43:21] Speaker C: It's an interesting aspect of the story, too, that the will of the house. I'm making air quotes. Will of the house and the will of the children are somewhat tough to separate. [00:43:32] Speaker B: Yes, it is kind of interesting because they become kind of enmeshed and you literally can't separate them. You don't see where one ends and the other begins. [00:43:42] Speaker A: Well, any other points about this episode or trivia or anything you wanted to bring to our attention? [00:43:49] Speaker B: I would like to discuss the x minus one changes because I think it's kind of interesting. When they reused the script for x minus one, they must have decided that having children kill their parents, I don't know why, was too dark. And so the reason I chose Dimension X episode is x minus one adds this framing sequence where it's from the psychiatrist's point of view and it opens with him treating the family. It flashes back, tells the whole story, ends the same way the dimension x one does, with the lions eating something off in the distance and the little girl wendy, offering him a cup of tea. But then it goes back to the framing sequence and it's kind of funny because he so blatantly states that everything you're concerned about as a listener right now didn't happen. So let me just read this because it's actually really funny. This is from the psychiatrist's voice. [00:44:41] Speaker A: He says, just kidding. [00:44:42] Speaker B: Almost. There were no lions. Of course not. In a physical sense. Lydia and George were devoured, however, almost as surely as if there had been lions, which there wasn't. No, he doesn't say that. Their personalities were devoured by the mechanistic marvels which had usurped their roles as parents. All four members of the family are under intensive therapy now and doing as well as can be expected. And then it ends. [00:45:07] Speaker F: Wow. [00:45:08] Speaker A: That is covering your base. [00:45:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think it kind of kills what is powerful in the Ray Bradbury story. [00:45:17] Speaker A: Absolutely. That kills it. [00:45:19] Speaker C: Did you guys have the same thought as I did? That that tea was not good for the psychiatric. That's poison. [00:45:26] Speaker B: I didn't even think of that. But I like it. [00:45:29] Speaker A: That's totally what I thought, Tim. Wow. Man, did everything have to go there? [00:45:35] Speaker F: Yes. [00:45:35] Speaker C: The psychiatrist is not getting out of this house alive. [00:45:40] Speaker A: I didn't understand the t reference. It was like life back to normal kind of thing. [00:45:45] Speaker B: I think that's exactly what it is. It's just that nothing really bothers the kids about their parents being eaten. They fantasized about it so much. Either a, they're happy to have their parents dead or b, they've gone in the room so many times they can't even separate the nursery from reality and they don't even know that this time their parents are really dead. So either way, it's an eerie last line, I think. [00:46:11] Speaker A: Yeah, that's interesting. [00:46:12] Speaker C: Tim probably says more about me than right. [00:46:15] Speaker A: We're going to kill you too. Without the room. Have some tea. Let's go to the vote. Right. I'll start it. Because the whole kids killing your parents thing or evil kids, I think that stands the test of time. Children of the corn or fire starter or Damien. There's a whole list of, like, six. [00:46:37] Speaker B: Or seven episodes of just the first season of X Files alone with just evil children killing people. [00:46:42] Speaker A: I think it's always scary, and I think it has something to do with the exact thing at the end. What we're talking about with it's so flippantly done by children, like why and how they said that they don't even know what really death is. Right. And it doesn't affect them that much. And they're so innocent that it's more terrifying and you don't expect it from them. And this episode also had a way of making me, up until the very end, think that the kids were completely innocent. You know what I'm saying? What are you talking about? What velt? There's no Africa. There's nothing going on in there. I thought, oh, so this has nothing to do with the kids until, honestly, the kids locked them in the room and then I went, wow, okay. So it was the kids. So for those reasons that it's a time tested scary thing that I thought was really well written. I thought it was actually pretty well acted and a lot of fun that way. And I thought it was pretty scary. I thought it was great. And I will say that, and we talk about this a lot with you, and we'll talk about it more next week, I think, in the weeks to come. But there's disembodied voices, which is on our opening of our show, things that we can hear but can't see is always terrifying. Distant growls of tigers. So I think it's absolutely terrifying. I think it's a great episode. [00:48:08] Speaker B: I agree totally. And I can't really add much more other than if you're talking about the sound design. I think that adds a lot to it. Yeah, the velt sounds are fantastic. I really loved the. [00:48:22] Speaker A: Those are guys making tiger noises. You do that with a paper bag and some corn starch. [00:48:29] Speaker B: You're just making crap up. [00:48:32] Speaker C: Of course, guys say I'm a tiger. [00:48:35] Speaker B: This may not stand the test of time, but the use of the xylophone when they're describing the fun stuff that the nursery does is the kind of music, if you've ever heard any children's radio, like let's pretend or the cinnamon bear. And so I love that xylophone in there. It was really sort of making you go, this is all sweet and innocent and nice as they're playing with Alice in Wonderland or whatever other pirates of the. Not the Caribbean, whatever games they're playing. You know what I'm talking about. So I loved all the sounds, and I thought it was fun to be Peter and Wendy, which I think has to be Peter Pan and Wendy darling references. So, yeah, I chose it. I love it. [00:49:20] Speaker A: I didn't even catch that till now. [00:49:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree. It's so much what you said. I think the story is so rich and so good, it absolutely stands the test of time. I think there's occasionally in the dialogue, a couple of notes of heavy handedness with the technology message that sounded a little sour to me, but that's really nitpicking. And it's a lot of work to have to find something even halfway to object to. So, yeah, definitely stands test time. [00:49:47] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:49:47] Speaker B: I mean, there are some obviously, gender roles that are more divided than a modern story would be, but, yeah, other than just really surface level, it was written in the really speaks to our current fears and anxieties. And I also love that for some reason, when the dad didn't have much to do around the house, he started to drink too much. [00:50:12] Speaker A: I forgot to bring that up. [00:50:13] Speaker B: That was awesome. [00:50:14] Speaker A: This is going on. This is going. And you're drinking too much. Yeah, no, I'm actually not. The house is making me drinks and pouring it down my throat while it's tying my shoes. [00:50:28] Speaker B: And the x minus one script also cut the father drinking too much. [00:50:32] Speaker A: There you go. So there you have it. [00:50:35] Speaker D: Right? [00:50:35] Speaker A: We're in agreement. [00:50:36] Speaker B: Yes. [00:50:37] Speaker A: That's the first time, I think. [00:50:39] Speaker B: Really? [00:50:40] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:50:40] Speaker A: First time we all agreed ever. On anything. I'm just saying. All right, well, that's going to do it for this week's episode of the mysterious old radio Listening Society podcast. Thanks so much for joining us once again. I'm Eric. [00:50:55] Speaker F: I'm Tim. [00:50:55] Speaker B: I'm Joshua. [00:50:56] Speaker A: You can learn more about us and about the show and other things that we're involved in by going to ghoulishdelights.com. That's exactly where you probably are right now. If not, go to ghoulishdelights.com. Thanks again for joining us. And until next time.